Jayden Tyler defeated Homewood-Flossmoor Curie

From the first day of application jayden tyler He knew Homewood-Flossmoor would go to state.

However, the young quarterback also knew that it would not be easy.

“We were chasing the ring every day,” Tyler said as the celebration got underway after the instant classic on Monday night. “We knew it was going to be tough, but we’re going out of state — really, really.”

It was definitely not easy. The Vikings pulled off a thrilling 60-58 victory over Curie to win the Class 4A UIC Supersectional at Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago.

Tyler finished the game with 18 points; While HF (31-4) turned the score into 46-38 with an 18-2 run, he scored 10 points, one rebound, one steal and one block in the fourth quarter. We are ahead 56-48.

Gianni Cobb He scored 22 points to lead the Vikings, who will play in the state semifinals against New Trier (29-7), which beat Glenbard North 65-41 on Friday at 3:45 p.m. at the State Farm Center in Champaign.

Gakobie McNeal He came off the bench and recorded seven rebounds, six of which came in the second half. It was very important for HF that Curie (31-3) had a 14-4 rebound advantage in the first half.

This is the fourth trip to the state finals for the Vikings and the first since 2004, when they finished second in the state in Class AA.

Later, after the final whistle, Tyler received praise from the coach. Jamere Dismukes.

“If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think we would be in this position right now,” Dismukes said. “My hat’s off to Jayden, my hat’s off to Gakobie. They tore it up in the second half.”

Even though HF was ahead by eight points with 58 seconds left, the game was not over.

After an exciting series, the score reached 58-58. Cobb, who is headed to Columbia, made two free throws with 16 seconds left. carson brownfield He then grabbed the final rebound after an errant shot.

“Making history is fun and winning is always fun,” Brownfield said. “It’s even better to win with my brothers. Winning with the friends I grew up with.

“It’s great to make our dreams come true.”

Through seven quarters, Credit Union 1 Arena hasn’t fared well for the Vikings, who lost 77-47 to Gonzaga in December and trailed 44-38 entering the fourth quarter on Monday.

Part of this was thanks to Curie’s Mason Minor’s controversial buzzer beater.

“We looked at ourselves in the mirror at halftime because our rebounding wasn’t good,” Tyler said, citing some numbers. “They grabbed nine offensive rebounds and scored seven goals. We had to come out in the second half and get rebounds, get offensive rebounds.

“This feels so much better than when we first got here.”

Monday night had all the makings of a state championship game.

Since Jan. 3, HF and Curie have been at the top of the Class 4A Associated Press state poll. While the Vikings were ranked No. 1 on January 17, January 31, and February 7, they ended the regular season with a 65-63 home loss to Bolingbrook, falling to No. 2 in the final poll on February 14.

Brownfield felt that loss, as well as a 68-66 overtime victory over Joliet West in the Rich Township Regional semifinal, helped the Vikings refocus.

“These are wake-up calls,” he said. “We knew we had to get back in the gym and we knew we had a lot to work on. We quickly recovered, went to practice, and focused on ourselves and no one else.”

Cobb calmed down a bit before opening the super section by scoring 10 points in the first quarter. But he also credited Tyler for taking over from there.

“They were protecting me and I trusted my team to hand it over to them,” Cobb said. “I told Jayden to keep shooting hoops and he will come. And he died.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.